Roof rain gutters, which are installed around the eaves of houses, buildings and the like for the purpose of collecting rain and melted snow, hail or ice which runs off the roof of the building and directing the rain, melted snow, hail or ice to a drain spout system, are in common use in building constructions in most parts of the civilized world. One of the problems with the roof-rain gutter system is that with time, the gutter becomes plugged due to accumulation of leaves, dirt, twigs, tree seed pods, needles and the like. Such debris, unless periodically cleaned from the roof-rain gutter system, will impede water flow and eventually plug the drain spout of the roof-rain gutter. As a consequence, the roof-rain gutter will ultimately overflow. In some cases, usually in commercial buildings, depending upon the design of the roof-rain gutter and drainage system, debris can plug the system to the point that water will back up and enter the building, thereby resulting in water damage.
A number of solutions to the roof-rain gutter debris accumulation problem have been suggested in the past. Australian Pat. No. 561877, sealed Oct. 28, 1987, Hopkins, discloses a leaf excluder to be used with a rain water guttering of channel form. The leaf excluder is constructed of an elongated strip of flexible resilient sheet material with a plurality of gutter engaging fingers along one edge thereof. The strip also includes a plurality of water passing slots in the strip. The strip, in upwardly arcuate form, is positioned along the length of the rain guttering and causes leaves and other debris to flow over the top of the rain guttering, while the majority of the rain water passes through the slots in the elongated strip. Any leaves or other debris which remain on the top of the strip will ultimately dry out and be blown away by the wind. A problem with the Hopkins strip is that in its principal embodiment, there is nothing which will resist downward depression of the strip into the roof rain gutter. The weight of the strip is supported strictly by upwardly arcuate tension force. Consequently, heavy debris, hail, snow or ice can collapse the strip.
Canadian Pat. No. 1,026,078, issued Feb. 14, 1978, Zukauskas, discloses a shield configuration (see FIG. 8) which has an abrupt forward edge which separates leaf and water flows in rain gutters. A space between a forward surface of the shield and a forward wall of the rain gutter receives water. This system requires clips for installation.
Canadian Pat. No. 1,189,280, issued June 25, 1985, Tanski, discloses a roof and gutter saving device which includes in combination an elongated central main body, a tongue portion along one longitudinal edge of the central main body and a non-rigid joint formed along the longitudinal edges pivotally hinging the tongue portion, the overhang portion and a stabilizing tab. The main purpose of this device is to protect gutters of houses from becoming ice filled during the winter and being pulled away from the roof. This device does not appear to be designed to hold debris out of the roof-rain gutter. Also, installation is complicated.
A number of other U.S. patents illustrate various designs of protectors for roof-rain gutter systems:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,741,398 Abramson June, 1978 4,247,397 Dobosi January, 1981 4,311,292 Deason January, 1982 4,404,775 Demartini September, 1983 4,406,093 Good et al. September, 1983 4,411,110 Carey October, 1983 4,418,504 Lassiter December, 1983 4,435,925 Jefferys March, 1984 4,455,791 Elko et al. June, 1984 4,573,290 Fleming March, 1986 4,586,298 Colp May, 1986 4,590,716 Smith May, 1986 4,604,837 Beam August, 1986 4,631,875 Olson December, 1986 4,644,704 Pedgonay February, 1987 4,667,448 Smith May, 1987 ______________________________________